Forres cancer survivor taking on a beast of a race

A local businessman who survived throat cancer is taking part
in a gruelling race to help battle the condition.

Jeff Bradford who runs ScrubVac on the Greshop estate and is also a personal trainer is joining a team of ten local people who are taking part in the Loch Ness Beast Race to raise funds for the Throat Cancer Foundation.

Jeff says the cancer he survived doesn’t get the level of publicity as some of the others, and doing the beast race will not only raise some much-needed funds, but also highlight the work being done to combat head and neck cancers.

Personal trainers

The team are training at Life and Sole

The idea to do the gruelling Loch Ness Beast Race came from Mollie Powney, a personal trainer at the Life and Sole gym at the Enterprise Park in Forres. Owner Dan Foster has also got behind the idea, joined the team and given sponsorship.

He said: “We’ve got about ten people doing the Beast Race. Most of the guys are actually from the gym already, so we’re getting them training here, doing the classes to get them fit, and hopefully, avoid any injuries, and get through it without any problem.

Mollie, who has wanted to do the race for a while said: “We
signed up for the race, then we decided to raise money for the Throat Cancer
Foundation on behalf of Jeff, who will be taking part as well.

Jeff was diagnosed with Throat Cancer several years ago and after treatment at the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary is now in remission.

Raising awareness

He said: “Although it’s very survivable, throat cancer is one of the hardest to treat, because of the areas around the throat and mouth and the side effects from radiotherapy and chemotherapy, it causes lots of burns inside and outside your throat. It prevents you from eating and some people have to be tube-fed, even 10-15 years on.

“This charity needs money to raise awareness. They’ve been great in getting the Government to bring in the HPV vaccination for teenage boys. It’s already available for girls and helps prevent cervical cancer, but the Human Papillomavirus is also prevalent in throat cancers in men.

“The Throat Cancer Foundation has encouraged the Government
to bring this vaccination to the fore and from September this year, the vaccine
will be offered to boys and girls, as a result of the foundation’s work.”

“If I’d had the vaccine when I was 13/14, I might not have
had this cancer.”

The Forres Beasts are hoping to raise £1000 and sponsorship forms are available at the Life and Sole gym, or you can donate online at: bit.ly/forresbeasts2019